Chia Update April 3, 2007

Chia came home from the 'hospital' on Saturday, March 31 after 11 days at the veterinarian's. She was not yet out of the woods, but they had weaned her off the intravenous and thought she could probably best finish recuperating at home. I wanted to wait a few days to make sure she was improving before publishing an update.

The first few hours she was home, she found deep, dark places in the house in which to hide, as I've noticed sick cats do. After about five or six hours, she started venturing out of her hiding spots and was starving for affection. Her fur was coming out in handfuls - I think from both the trauma of being sick and being away from home for so long.

She has hardly left my lap. Yesterday morning she had to visit the vet's office again. The goal was to take blood to ensure that her kidney levels are improving. While she's become quite accustomed to the vet, she was not fully cooperative so they weren't able to get a conclusive test. The vet told us to make sure that she's eating the new, low protein food and drinking plenty of water.

Chia's eyes look brighter and her face looks happier. I tried to get her to pose for an updated photo, and this was the shot we got. She's not fully back to her old self, but we are both quite hopeful.

Thank you to everyone who's written or called with concern about our little kitty.

Now to collect the $2,100.00 in vet bills that we've paid to save her life!

Guest Post - Petcetera Vice President Richard Kaga

I received a reply this week from Petcetera in reply to my complaint about the recent Menu Foods recall. I asked Richard Kaga for permission to reprint his email here:

"Dear Michelle,

Thank you for expressing your concern. I visited your blog and was saddened to here of Chia's condition. We hope she is able to recover from it. We were first made aware of the recall on Saturday morning, March 17th and immediately sent instructions to all stores to remove the affected product (specific brands of wet food cans and foil pouches) from the shelves. Since then we have updated our website several times, followed up and provided additional direction to our stores, and answered numerous inquiries from customers. Your comments regarding what was communicated to you by our Ajax store were disappointing and have been addressed with them. We understand how important this matter is and it has been our highest priority since it was announced.

Sincerely,
Richard Kaga
Vice President
Canadian Petcetera Limited Partnership"

I'd like to think that my one small voice is helping to change the world in a positive way.

Chia Part 3

Chia is in the hospital. She's spending the night at the emergency clinic in Whitby. The prognosis is not good. She has renal failure.

Last Friday, upon learning of the pet food recall, I sent an email to Colin Perkel, the writer for Canadian Press who broke the original story in Canada. I wrote to object that there had been "There had been no complaints from Canadian pet owners".

Mr. Perkel filed a follow-up story today, quoting me from my blog. Click here to read today's CP story.

In fact, there have been hundreds of reported cases in Canada. Here are just a few of the confirmed stories:

Winnipeg Free Press

The Globe and Mail

CBC News

Even the Ontario Veterinary Medical Association has acknowledged the link between tainted food and an increase in renal failure, particularly in cats.

The saga continues. Let's hope we're one of the stories with a happy ending.

Menu Foods Wet Cat Food Recall

Our cat, Chia, has been sick most of the week. Yesterday my husband made the connection between the assortment of Special Kitty foods she's been eating and how lethargic and seemingly "sad" this cat has been for the past seven days. We purchase all of our Special Kitty wet and chunky cat foods at Wal-Mart.

This evening I read about the pet food recall at Menu Foods, one of North America's largest pet food producers.

The Canadian Press story by Colin Perkel reported:

"Menu Foods, one of the leading North American private-label and contract manufacturer of wet pet-food products, produced more than one billion containers last year.

It supplies its products to 17 of the top 20 retailers in North America for sale under store labels such as Master Choice, Compliments and Select and manufactures for several national brands.

The story further reported, "One dog and a "small number" of cats in the U.S. are reported to have died from kidney failure after eating the food....There had been no complaints from Canadian pet owners."

Um, excuse me! I'd like to complain about this. What are we supposed to do now? Luckily, we had some Whiskas wet, chunky food. But it has just now occurred to me that Whiskas brand may be affected, too. Unfortunately, as of the time of this post, the Menu Foods website is not accessible.

I had noticed that our cat had no energy. She always comes when we call her name. Nothing this week has been enough to inspire her to move off the sofa. On those few times when she has ventured a little further, I noticed that she was extremely uncoordinated -- she slipped off the sofa several times for no apparent reason.

What do we do now? How do we ensure that our cat will recover with no lasting side effects?

Updated March 17, 2007: The Menu Foods website is now working, and, in fact, the Special Kitty brand has more than 100 affected products. I am happy to report that the Whiskas brand is NOT made by Menu Foods. Can you guess what kind of cat food she'll be eating from now on?

I tried posting a comment to the Menu Foods website but the form is not working. Instead I sent them an email. Any chance they planning to reimburse pet owners their veterinary bills?